By Martin Brisland. Image – Shanklin Old Village
Earlier this year I managed to break my humerus bone where it joins my left shoulder. Not feeling up to a long-haul holiday and looking for a recuperative trip, we crossed the water and spent an extended time on the Isle of Wight.
The 9 mile wide by 13 mile long diamond shaped island has a population around 141,000, but far more in the peak holiday season.
So here are a few observations on an island not far from Southampton, but with its own distinctive identity.
This year, the Red Funnel car ferry service has been beset by mechanical problems and cancellations. Their fleet is about 30 years old and needs updating, and last week the company had to deny rumours it was going into administration.
Some say it is the most expensive ferry journey per mile anywhere in the world.
The ferry cost always leads to some saying, ‘just build a bridge’, but that is something most islanders do not want. They say the local roads would not cope and they like their island identity.
How people describe the journey across the water can tell you a lot about them – there seem to be three classes of citizenship, a Grockle, Caulkhead and Overner.
A Grockle or tourist would say ‘we are going back home’ at the end of their stay. A Caulkhead, or native islander, might say ‘we are going over to England’. An Overner is someone who has moved to live on the Island, but would not say that. The term Caulkhead derives from the practice of caulking, or filling the gap, between the wooden planks of a ship, for many years an island occupation.
The Isle of Wight has a long tradition for music festivals, originally held in 1968, 1969 and 1970 and restarting in 2002.
Indie duo Wet Leg, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, had a number one debut album in 2022. They met at music college on the Island. From playing local venues they have supported acts – from the Foo Fighters to Harry Styles – on world tours. There are several explanations for their name, my favourite is that visitors to the Island used to get a wet leg from stepping off a ferry boat.
It is said that in World War Two no enemy forces reached the British Isles, apart from the occupation of the Channel Islands. However, there is now plausible evidence that there was a German Kommando night raid on a RAF radar station at St. Lawrence, near Ventnor, on 15/16 August 1943.
It was airbrushed from history, probably to keep up wartime morale.
The Kommando unit arrived by U boat and then came ashore in two small dinghy boats. They were after the short-wave radar equipment that was superior to theirs. This year there has been an archaeological dig with Professor James Symonds as consultant which has unearthed a considerable amount of bullet casing finds, indicating a serious gun fight at the site.
There is currently an exhibition at the Wight Aviation Museum at Sandown Airport.
The Island now returns two Members of Parliament, having previously only had one since 1832. It returned one Labour and one Conservative MP in July 2024. In the past it has returned only a Conservative or Liberal MP.
I find myself questioning whether I’d I want to become an Overner?
After all it was once good enough for Queen Victoria to make a home at Osborne House.
My favourite activity has been walking up Tennyson Down at Freshwater and taking in the excellent view. However, I would probably not move as I have regular hospital appointments, and the main gripe of locals is that you must travel to the mainland for specialist medical services.
A past less serious complaint was that there was no Greggs on the Island, but there is now one in Newport.
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